The beginning of the Ping Dynasty

The computer messed up every time I tried to write a description under the pics so I gave up. Most are self explanatory
Well, it's official. I -as Queen of my house- have been dethroned! Steve said the Ping Dynasty has officially begun. Either that or we are experiencing the Oedipus complex-I haven't really decided yet. Either way, she is definitely a toddler and we have completely forgotten what that part of childhood is like. It must be God's way-why else would anyone have a second child!?! She let me dress her this morning and even sat with me at breakfast while Steve fixed himself his first plate of the trip. Later today, she let me change her diaper and walk around with her without Steve. Toddler steps but I'm taking what I can get.
Today we toured a The Buddhist Temple. The place is over 1500 years old. Parts of the building are made from porcelain and have maintained its color. The garden was beautiful. The first Buddha we saw was now enclosed in glass. It was meant as good luck and fertility to rub his belly. Steve told me to stay far away from that one. All joking aside, I became emotional watching people bow down and pray to a statue. It brought to life what I've just been reading in the Old Testament. However, I was convicted bc although I may not bow or pray to a statue, how many things of this world do I worship? How many people have I turned away from The Lord by my words and actions? These people don't know the truth. I do.
Next stop was the Old Chen House which has had several different names over the years. Another very beautiful place- full of art and places to shop. Our group then went to a jade factory. Jade in China is what gold is in the US. The first gift a newborn is given is Jade in the form of a circle. Circle means happy family reunion. As a tradition, Jade is given to a person three times in life- at birth, at marriage-and at 60th birthday. We have enjoyed learning the heritage of Ai-Le's birth country but are looking forward to teaching her our own traditions.
So two o'clock in the afternoon and we haven't eaten lunch yet. We get back to the room and Ai-Le takes her usual first of two baths of the day before her nap. She is fighting nap time-however, she is sleeping great through the night(last night 8P-7:30A) so we are not complaining. I walked to 7/11 to get bread while Steve put her to sleep. When I got back I couldn't find our plastic utensils I brought


So I used a toothbrush to make the pb&j sandwiches. Maybe it was funnier to me but it was quite
comical how the whole thing went down. We are meeting our group tonight for a Cantonese dinner- supposed to be yummy! I'll let you know.
So to continue what I wanted to write earlier. Just another testament to what an awesome God we serve. When we were playing at the hotel playground yesterday we met another adoptive family. Turns out, her good friend adopted her son from the same foster home Ai-Le was in and knew the foster family well.  By the time I woke up this morning, I already had an email from the friend as well as Ai-Le's foster mother. I'm not going into the details but Ai-Le was loved and very well cared for-she preferred her foster dad whenever he was around. She told me Ai-Le had a rough time adjusting at the foster home-she had been there since last March. She has lots of info and pictures from the last year of her life.  There are no coincidences- nothing randomly happens. Even when
things don't go our way-it's God's way. He has a plan though we may not ever understand this side of heaven

Tonight we ate at a Cantonese restaurant walking distance from the hotel. We sat at large circle tables. The servers brought new plates of food every few minutes. Pork, green beans, bbq, fried rice, noodles, and these fried dough balls with eagle brand milk to dip them in-the names sound western but it was completely authentic. That is just the easiest way to describe it.  Ai-Le sat through the entire meal-eating everything and wanting more. She fed herself with a fork and new exactly what to
do. Her eating was the only thing I took pics of at the restaurant. Oh well. She let me feed her ice cream tonight- her first. Haagen Dazs tiramisu- I'm sure the tiramisu thing is probably getting
annoying by now. I can't help it. It's yummy. It's Haagen Dazs. It's tiramisu. Steve had to go exchange more money tonight and so he left while we were eating icecream.  She was fine for a minute then
freaked. She thought he may be in the bathroom. When she realized he wasn't in there, she began to panic. I distracted her with bubbles and then ran a bubble bath. She did ok. I stole a few kisses too but I'm ok with that. Missing home a bunch. Seeing the boys in only spurts of a few seconds at a time


makes it even more difficult.
I'm sitting in the cafe downstairs and am having success blogging. This is actually several days worth but I'm losing track of time.

Buddha of luck and fertile 

                               

 

 

These things are huge